Scientific Proceedings. 



33 



32. » On the secretion of human bile " : PHOEBUS A. LEVENE, 

 W. G. MELVIN, and B. MICHAILOWSKI. 



The bile was obtained from a patient with a biliary fistula. 

 The patient had been operated upon for gallstones, and was in 

 comparatively good health at the time of the experiment. 



Attention was directed to (i) the influence of diet on the quan- 

 tity of bile secreted in 24 hours, (2) the permeability of the biliary 

 ducts for certain substances like methylene-blue and sodium sali- 

 cylate, (3) the influence of these substances and of some salts and 

 acids on the secretion, and (4) on the nature of so-called " bile 

 mucin." 



The quantities of bile secreted under different conditions, to- 

 gether with other data, are briefly summarized below : 



Diet and Dosage. 



Volume — 24 

 Hours, 

 c.c. 



Total Solids. 

 Percent. 



Organic Matter. 

 Percent. 



Ash. 

 Percent. 





780 



1-57 



O.76 



O.82 





785 



1.68 



O.60 



I.08 



Milk diet 



845 



1. 61 



O.56 



I.05 





835 



1.64 



O.80 



O.84 





461 



1.62 



O.71 



O.92 



Hydrochloric acid 



461 



1.53 



I.08 



0-4S 





687 



1.63 



O.56 



I.08 



Sodium salicylate 



642 



1.40 



O.42 



O.98 



Methylene-blue 



864 



1.58 



0.54 



I.04 



For methylene-blue and sodium salicylate the bile ducts proved 

 less permeable than the kidneys. There was observed a marked 

 increase in secretion after subcutaneous injections of methylene- 

 blue. The " mucin " was found to be a phosphorized proteid, but 

 no purin bases could be detected in its molecule. 



33. " Experiments with certain nitriles and their antidotes " : 

 REID HUNT. 



Experiments (carried out in the laboratory of Professor Ehrlich) 

 on the toxicity of a number of nitriles, and the antidotal action of 

 certain sulfur compounds toward them, were described. Most of 

 the nitriles studied are poisonous in virtue of the HCN which is 

 split off in the body ; in the case of some of the nitriles of the 

 aromatic series and of certain amino nitriles, the molecules them- 

 selves seem to be poisonous. Although each of nearly all of the 

 compounds studied is capable of splitting off one molecule of 



